Tay Boon Keh faces a year in jail after being charged with 286 counts of "mischief".

The handler is accused of sending hundreds of luggage bags to the wrong destination.Getty

A baggage handler at Singapore's international airport is accused of deliberately swapping the tags on people's luggage so they get sent to the wrong destination. Tay Boon Keh was charged with 286 counts of mischief in relation to allegations he swapped the tags on people's bags at Changi Airport every day for three months.

If found guilty, Tay could face up to a year in jail or pay a fine for every charge, the Straits Times newspaper reports. There has been no suggested motive as to why the baggage handler allegedly swapped the tags.

A spokesperson for the airport said the case was an isolated incident and there has not been a serious breach of aviation security. Tay's alleged tag swapping is said to have begun on 8 November 2016 when he marked a bag bound for Penang in Malaysia for a different location.

Over the next three months, nearly 300 bags meant for cities such as London and Hong Kong were sent to the wrong airports. Passengers flying Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Lufthansa were affected by the mistakes.